


Pine Box At Bedside

by letbygones



Series: Growing Pains [1]
Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Dom/sub Undertones, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Masochism, Post-Canon, Whump, pathways to kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:14:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22298389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letbygones/pseuds/letbygones
Summary: Galo was beginning to know what regret felt like.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Series: Growing Pains [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1605982
Comments: 4
Kudos: 120





	Pine Box At Bedside

He woke to bright lights and blurry shapes. He blinked, and his vision corrected itself- only for his world to quickly wipe away again when he was rocked too harshly. Pictures drawn into the sand, he thought, being taken from him by waves of movement. Like last week, at the beach, when he'd drawn a heart around his and Lio's names.

He gasped, and reflexively flailed upwards in the stretcher, but something bound him down.

"Keep him still," one of the blurry shapes said, and Galo panicked, twisting sideways to find freedom—

Pain erupted everywhere. His groan was deep and desperate and hot in his throat, and the corners of his mouth must've scabbed over, because his skin cracked when he tried to plead for help.

"Mr. Thymos, please don't move. You're going to be okay." The voices didn't really reassure him, but they tried asking him a lot of invasive questions he didn't want to answer, like if he remembered his phone number. _What's it to them, anyway?_ Eight-one-eight something, jeez! 

Then the shapes wheeled him faster down a hallway. They said things like _MVA_ and _debride_ and _insurance provider_ and Galo, _Galo,_ can you count backwards from ten? before he was finally, thankfully, asleep again.

Lio smiled at him. He'd caught a sandcrab, and his hands were cupped with silt and oceanwater. He shrieked in surprise as the tiny creature tried to burrow down, grazing the skin of his palm.

\---

When he opened his eyes again, he was alone.

In the past, when he'd been in the hospital (for things like croup, or his tonsillectomy) he'd woken to balloons and cards. The Foresight Foundation had taken every opportunity to delight their youngest mascot, and nothing made better press than an orphan with hope. Galo was ashamed to realize he still had his first _Get Well Soon!_ on official letterhead, stashed under his bed in a shoebox. 

_A burning soul always faces his fears. Have courage, and overcome._

Galo stared at the ceiling tiles and wept.

He couldn't help it. His body felt distant and sore. He became aware of his knees and how _badly_ they hurt, the throbbing persistent enough to knock through the thick wall of painkillers.

Kray Foresight's stupid smiling face was stuck at the forefront of his mind. Galo grunted.

He didn't want the nurses to see him like this, so he wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. His IV became all too apparent. His chest hitched tighter. What happened? Which hospital was he even in? Where were his teammates— had they even been called?

"Hello?" he tried, letting his shockingly feeble voice echo out though the open doorway. People in powder blue outfits paced by in the distance, but nobody seemed to hear him. 

Then the door to the attached bathroom cracked open.

"Galo?"

A sliver of yellow light revealed a very concerned Lio Fotia situated on the toilet, his face peering through the gap in the doorway. "Galo, are you okay? Hold on, I'm having stomach issues, I'm sorry—"

Every muscle in Galo's body relaxed. He stared back, sputtering into a nod.

"N-no, take your time," he murmured. He would've smiled, if it weren't for the shockwave of relief flooding his brain. He was never very good at hiding his emotions.

Lio stepped out a moment later, making sure to thoroughly wash his hands. He paced over to Galo's side, and the look on his face made Galo's heart sink.

"I'm sorry," was all Galo said, before Lio was gently brushing the sweaty bangs out of his eyes.

"What are you sorry for," Lio asked. His voice sounded tired.

"I'm happy to see you, I swear."

"I didn't think otherwise," Lio answered sweetly, but he frowned. "Don't be performative for me. It's okay. Do you remember what happened?"

Galo tried sitting up, but was met with a shooting pain in his core. He squirmed, and Lio carefully interlocked their fingers. Galo squeezed half as hard as he needed to.

"Well," Galo grunted through grit teeth. "Clearly ribs are off the menu tonight. Broke 'em?"

"Amongst other things," Lio nodded, trying to keep the mood light. "Namely, your bike. And you nearly broke my heart too. Thank you for wearing your helmet, for once."

Galo couldn't look him in the eye. He remembered being told to stay off the mountain roads. It'd been icy. He'd been in a bad mood.

"I'm sorry," he said again, looking down at his lap. Lio was a rare type of person— he was soft and kind, and Galo knew he loved him, but he was stern, and oh so intelligent— it made him ache. Galo was beginning to know what regret felt like. 

Around Lio, consequences meant something again.

But Lio's fingertips ghosted along the bottom of Galo's jaw, careful not to touch in ways that hurt, and then he leaned in close. His breath smelled like fresh toothpaste, and maybe something more acidic. 

"I shouldn't be punishing you. I'm sorry too," he whispered against Galo's skin. "But... I'm really, _really_ angry with you. I don't know how else to put it." Lio looked at him with love in his eyes. Nothing about him looked angry, and it almost made Galo feel worse.

Softly, slowly, he brushed a kiss against Galo's mouth. "I— you're alive. I wasn't ready to lose you."

Galo broke. 

"Kiss me harder," he told Lio. His eyes felt wet as he stared sharp and dangerous.

Lio drew back, confused. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not? I want to kiss you."

"Your-" Lio paused, motioning all around the bottom of Galo's face. "You kissed the road plenty enough."

It hadn't even occurred to Galo that his face was injured. He only felt hot and needy, maybe even a little angry at himself too. 

Kray Foresight had given him hope, when he needed it most...

But Lio Fotia had given him honesty.

"Please," was all Galo was able to say, as he begged with every part of his body that wasn't broken.

So Lio, terribly in love with him, bent back down and kissed him deep and fierce. Galo let out a whine as pain exploded around his mouth, but as Lio motioned to stop and help, Galo threaded his hand up into the smaller man's hair, locking his partner in place.

Lio understood. He pressed against Galo tighter, careful not to damage him, only kissing the parts that weren't scabbed or bruised or bandaged. He kept intimate stock of what hurt Galo in temporary, necessary ways— biting his bottom lip, sucking his tongue, chancing pressure near his scraped up cupid's bow. With every moment of contact, Galo let out a sharp breath or a pleading _yes,_ reassuring Lio that he wanted this.

He couldn't always be courageous. He couldn't always face his fears. 

_A burning soul can suffer!_ he thought, tangling his other hand into Lio's oversized nightshirt. _A burning soul knows that's okay too!_

Kray Foresight had never known pain. Galo had it right here, in his hands, in his body, dedicating it like a libation to the only man who'd ever deserved to drink it in with him. 

Lio drew back with short breath and a blush on his cheeks. "I think that's enough," he muttered, swiping his thumb under Galo's still-wet eyes. "There's probably a fine line between this and self-harm, and I don't trust you not to cross it right now."

Galo let the lingering sensations in his lips settle, then slip away. "Yeah, okay, whatever, _Your Honor,_ " he chuckled. "You're right, though, I guess. I'm sor--"

Lio interrupted him with a single, silent eyebrow. 

"I mean. Thank you."

"Better."

Galo sighed. They fell into a moment of quiet thoughts, backed only by the peaceful slowing beeps of Galo's heart rate monitor. Lio's hand returned, tracing circles along Galo's poor purple knuckles.

"Was that weird," Galo interjected, voice soft and shy.

"Not really. I know how you like your eggs by now, so to speak."

"Uh-"

"I know how you process your trauma, Galo Thymos," Lio rephrased, taking a moment to look him in the eye. "I'd like to be the one to help you with that, in ways that we can agree upon. If you want."

Galo studied his lover of ten months, sixteen days, and— oh, seventeen days! It was four am, now. 

His heart monitor sped up again.

Lio looked as fragile as Galo felt. His hair was unbrushed and hastily secured back into a ponytail. He was wearing sweatpants and Galo's slippers. It became apparent that he'd woken up in the dead of night to a cruel phone call.

"Like... hurting me? On purpose," Galo finally managed, embarrassed by the beeping that clued Lio into his excitement.

"If you like it."

Galo breathed out slowly, careful not to hurt his ribcage. The irony wasn't lost on him.

"I think I would. But only if you get something out of it too," Galo mumbled, his face hot. "You're still mad at me. I don't know if I should like. Be the center of all that attention."

Lio smiled at him, something gentle and easy. "No? Thought you loved that sort of thing. Besides, we can work out the specifics later. For now, focus on recovering, yes?" He paused, making a sudden face. "While I focus on the bathroom again."

Galo didn't mean to laugh at his partner's race to the porcelain throne, but he couldn't help it. His head was _throbbing_ , his arms felt cold, and he'd never known a love so simple and selfless before. He called out to Lio through the closed bathroom door in pity as yesterday's dinner and last night's anxieties hit the toilet.

Over the next few hours, his nightstand had been filled with balloons and cards. His room, they'd found out, occupied seven loved ones (and two not-so-loved Generals), whether the nurses agreed with that number or not.

 _Yeah,_ he thought, while the members of Burning Rescue fought with a sharpie over the real estate on his leg cast. _Sometimes burning souls can suffer, and they don't even have to do it alone._

**Author's Note:**

> Galo still needs to learn his limits and Lio shouldn't have to be responsible for that, but here they are, struggling with that anyway.
> 
> Also I feel like it's necessary to mention I've been on a whump kick lately, and idk where that's going to go from here on out. Fair warning?
> 
> Big kudos to [ this lovely fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22222126) which, in combination with my recent trip to urgent care, got me thinking about hospitals. Give theirs a read, its very nice.


End file.
